Summer Before 6th Year
by slashee
Summary: From waiting for OWL's to getting letters between the trio intercepted, it is a very different summer then Harry, Ron or Hermione were expecting.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1 

I sat on the front steps of my house, twiddling my fingers and biting my nails anxiously. _What if I failed_? I thought. These OWLs were huge, and they had the power to affect what job you can get.

"Hermione, can you please come in? Your supper's getting cold," my mom, Beatrice, called down the hallway at me. I sighed and thought, _Well, waiting here won't make the results come faster!_ So I picked myself up and glumly walked down the hall.

Dinner was a very different meal. My dad, Michael, is a dentist, and so is my mom, but one of Dad's favorite pastimes is learning how to cook. He was more of an experimental cook so tonight he had made parsnip bread and baked carrots. I sat down and started twiddling my fingers again. "What are you doing, dear," Dad asked as he put a big loaf of parsnip bread on the creaky table.

"I'm waiting for the exam results," I muttered as I picked up my fork.

"Hon, twiddling your fingers won't do anything." I stopped twiddling. "And I know as a fact that you will get great marks. Michael, don't you agree?" Mom exclaimed.

"Yes, yes. You are an excellent student and even though I believe that you should carry on the family business, I want you to be happy," he looked around as though someone was spying on us through the windows, "in the wizard world."

I grinned and took a huge bite of parsnip bread. I choked it down, and left the rest untouched, drenching my throat with milk. The carrots were not bad. Actually, they were quite good. "You could sell the recipe to a fancy restaurant and it would be the best thing on the menu," Mom cried.

"It will be a sensation one day! I can see it now: Michael Granger, Dentist and Professional cook!" Dad laughed as I cleared the table.

"Speaking of which, tomorrow night we will be having a few orthodontists over for supper. We are trying to make a deal in which we merge our offices, so you need to be on your best behavior, and please make sure Crookshanks doesn't get into the food again! Be polite, but don't make conversation because that may offend our guests. Just answer nicely, like you usually do," Mom lectured. "It's the same every time we have guests; we warm up to them and then Crookshanks makes a mess." Crookshanks purred as I picked him up.

"Don't worry, Crookshanks will be fine," I assured. Even though Crookshanks had only attacked someone once, it was because she had this abnormally large feather on her already large hat. Not his fault, really. It looked like a squirrel! "Thanks for dinner, Dad. May I be excused?" I asked.

"Certainly," Mom said.

I shut the door of my room. It would be ordinary if it hadn't had my Hogwarts robes hanging on the back of my door and my spellbooks piled on top of my scratched up trunk. I opened my trunk to put the books back in. A scarf, sweater, blouse and skirt were sitting there, collecting dust, along with a wand, some laundry detergent, and a few old S.P.E.W. badges.

Speaking of S.P.E.W., I had kind of given up on that. For two years I had tried to get people to join but no one wanted to. I couldn't understand why they wouldn't want to join, and I half expected to have a huge queue of people lining up to join. It made no sense at all.

I picked up my wand and had a handful of memories come shooting back at me. I was still taking one potion to cure the effects of the spell that nearly killed me. Harry and Ron told me the rest of what I didn't remember. Mostly Ron, I guess, because Harry was all angry and mad about Sirius dying. It actually seemed quite scary.

I heard a knock on the window and I put the stuff away and looked out. There was an old owl out there, his feathers were falling out, he was thin as a post and I knew exactly who it was. I opened the window and cooed, "Don't fret, Errol. I've got you." I ripped the letter off of the Weasley's owl and read it.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I don't know quite what to say, but whatever comes out it's going to be bad._

_I wrote Harry and he got really worked up about coming over here, in a bad way. He got so mad at me for daring to mention Sirius, even though I didn't don't think I did at all. I shouldn't be doing this, but here's his letter._

_After I wrote that top paragraph, I realized that I forgot all about how you're doing. So, how are you doing? What've you been doing? I've been at home all summer and Fred and George's business has been going really well. For Ginny's birthday, they bought her a Cleansweep NINE!_

_Back to being nosy. See if you can get anything out of Harry. He's really getting on my nerves._

_From,_

Ron 

_P.S. I have a copy of Harry's letter here, if you want it._

I pulled the other piece of parchment from the envelope.

_Ron,_

Why do you care about Sirius anyway? It's not like you knew him really well, as well as I did, and you were too busy with that brain to help. You were stupid, Ron. You didn't help me when I needed it most, and that is not a sign of a true friend. I'm not facing hate from the Prophet, but you never helped me to stop. So that's why I believe that you aren't a true friend.

_I know you don't give a damn, but here's for the record; Hermione is the same._

I stared, hurt, at the last sentence. Why would Harry say that? I didn't think I had done anything to make him mad at me. I frantically searched for a pen and parchment and started to scribble to Ron.

_Ron,_

_That was weird. I don't think we did anything to make him that mad. And it's not your fault that the brain attacked you, and it's not my fault that I got cursed and passed out. Speaking of which, I'm still taking one of those awful potions to cure it. _

_Anyway, Harry wouldn't have written that. He wouldn't get that mad just because of what you wrote. Maybe you could give me that letter you wrote, I could figure it out once and for all. _

_Who knows, he could just be in a really bad mood!_

_Hermione_

I packaged that and I decided that if I was to ever get my letter to Harry, I had to do it via Ron.

P.S. Send this letter to Harry, I don't have an owl.

_Dear Harry,_

_How has your summer been? I haven't heard from Ron lately, do you know how he's doing? It's good over here, tomorrow night my parents are having a bunch of orthodontists over for a business meeting and I have to sit there looking pretty. I have had so much time on my hands I've already finished my summer homework, so if you need help you can ask me. Are the Dursleys giving you trouble? Have you gotten your results for OWLs yet?_

_Please respond, it feels really lonely over here!_

_Hermione_

I packaged the letters up and sent Errol on his way. As soon as Errol left I remembered that last year, people had attacked Hedwig to read one of Harry's letters to Sirius. Now the Death Eaters and Voldemort are out in the open, they may be intercepting mail!

I lay on my bed, leafed through an old copy of Witch Weekly and wondered if my theory was true. If it was, well, we had to act fast, otherwise our correspondence could end. With Crookshanks curled at my feet, I fell asleep.

At breakfast the next morning I wolfed down my porridge and went to wait by the front door of our house, yet again for the mail. As I rushed outside to our mailbox, I tripped over Crookshanks and went hurtling down the stairs. When my fall stopped, I did a quick inventory. I wasn't badly hurt. I limped the rest of the way to the mailbox and then realized my leg was bleeding very badly. Forgetting the mail on the front porch, I scrubbed off my knees and jeans and ran back to get the mail. Bills, bills, an application for Frequent Flyer miles, a new house offer, more bills, and a letter from my parents office. I shuffled down the hall, depressed because I had to wait longer for results. My parents asked me to mow the lawn, so I got out of my jeans and into my shorts and t-shirt.

It was 10:30, and I was already sweating. The neighbors had come by to talk to my parents, and still hadn't left when their daughter came over to say hi. "Hi, Hermione!" Ellie exclaimed. Ellie is 16, my age, and goes to a school in Scotland, and she and I were good friends. "I haven't seen you for the longest time. Where have you been?"

"I just got back about a week ago; I've been waiting for my exam results. What about you?" I asked.

"Me too. What subject do you think you'll do best in for exams?" she said.

"I don't mean to brag, but I'm the top student in the year…" I trailed off. "Really?" she exclaimed. "I'd love to be so smart. My history teachers keep

telling me to study more, even though I do. It's most likely my memory though. Very bad."

There was an awkward silence and something hit the lawn mower. Hard. We jumped and spotted a figure ducking into the bushes. I proceeded to chase the person through the yards, and into the woods. I nearly decided to stop until I heard a voice say my name. "Who is it?" I called, petrified. What if it was a Death Eater? Now that Voldemort was at large, who knows who's trustworthy anymore?

The figure jumped out and grabbed my neck. I kicked at him fiercely, but he just pulled me into a headlock. When I thought nothing could get worse, he pulled out his wand. "Tell me where Harry Potter is!"

I knew he was at the Dursley's, but I couldn't let Harry down. "I… don't… know," I stuttered, gasping for breath. My vision was turning fuzzy, and my head was spinning. "Last time… I saw…him was…Hogwarts," I felt as though my lungs were going to explode.

The man pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid, and I knew right away it was Veritaserum - a potion so powerful that two drops could have you telling your secrets to the world. My brain was not putting two and two together, and my eyes were barely staying open. He dropped me and I landed on my rear end, breathing heavily. Right before I passed out, I saw the man take off his hood so I saw his face. He had a hooknose, sallow skin and dark eyes, and I knew exactly who it was before my vision went black.

Chapter 2 

I woke with a start. "It's Snape," I muttered. My head was spinning, and I held onto a tree for support as I stood up on wobbly legs. _I have to write to Ron now!_ I walked dizzily out of the woods and up the hill to my house.

Soon after I got out of the woods, I realized I was a mess. My t-shirt sleeve was ripped, my leg was bleeding, and I had dirt smudged all over my face and arms. I was also becoming aware of the pain in my hands, and realized they were ripped open too. Knowing my parents would kill me, I ran into the house to explain the matter, only to find myself in front of a bunch of orthodontists. _Crap!_ I thought, and tried to stay calm about the matter. "Mr. Brown, Mr. Dobbs, this is my daughter Hermione," my dad said. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was ticked off, so I introduced myself and ran up to my room. Closing the door, I flew across the room and into my trunk to find parchment and a quill to write to Ron.

_Ron,_

_Something really weird just happened. I was mowing the lawn at my parent's house when someone hidden behind the bushes and chucked a rock at me. At first I thought it was just a practical joke, but the person ran away as soon as I looked in their direction._

_Naturally, I followed him into the woods. He came out, held me up by the neck, and asked where Harry was! I didn't tell him, obviously, but then he threatened me with Veritaserum and right before I passed out, he took off his hood, and it was SNAPE._

_I don't know why, but he obviously was trying to hurt Harry. This is peculiar, Ron. We have to get back to Hogwarts soon or at least in contact with Dumbledore._

_The only question is, how?_

_Hermione_

I shook my head furiously, realizing I had no owl, only Crookshanks. He purred when I started to stroke his fur, and then I had an idea. "Hey Crookshanks," I said apprehensively. "Could you take this to Ron for me?"

Crookshanks seemed to say yes, he bounced off the bed and took the letter in his mouth. He seemed to wave goodbye, then jumped out the window and walked into the sunset. Watching him go with a sense of loneliness, I headed for the shower.

I was mostly cleaned up. The cut on my leg wasn't bleeding anymore, but was forming a big bruise. I looked in the mirror and stared. My brown eyes were watering, there were bags underneath them, my nose was still smudged with dirt, and I had a variety of scratches on my face. My bushy hair had been rid of all the leaves and was looking a lot smoother than before. My jeans and polo shirt were cleaner than the rest of me as I began to pull a brush through my brown hair.

Fifteen minutes later I was sitting at the dinner table with my parents and the two orthodontists. "Oh yes, Hermione is a straight A student, Mr. Dobbs," my father bragged. "She goes to an exceptional establishment in the north of Ireland, called… Sterlington Academy." Mr. Dobbs looked approving. On the other hand, Mr. Brown looked like he wanted to retch at the sight of me. I fought the urge to stare him down and bit my tongue.

The rest of the dinner went well, except when Mr. Brown left I accidentally slammed the door on him. "Hermione, why were you late?" my mother asked. I sighed and told them the whole story. Obviously they didn't understand the importance of me getting back to Hogwarts, but they agreed to let me contact Dumbledore.

"We'll notify the proper authorities and this man will be arrested," Dad said.

I responded with a loud, "NO!" and he went silent. "He's a wizard. He's my Potions teacher. I have to talk to my headmaster about this," I added earnestly. "Mugg-… I mean, the police can't do anything about it. It's up to the wizarding world." That settled it as I calmly went up the stairs to my room.

As I continued reading through a Witch Weekly magazine, I was thinking about how to talk to Dumbledore. Crookshanks was gone, delivering something, and I had no owl. What else could I do? As I stared at a picture of Gilderoy Lockhart in his past years, it came to me. Muggle post! But I wouldn't be able to get through to Dumbledore though because he was a wizard.

Then the gears clicked in my head. Dumbledore had once said he had a brother. If I could get the letter to the other Dumbledore, he could get it to his brother and the problem would be solved. I clambered under the covers and fell asleep instantly, my mind with few worries.

That next morning, I set out with a purpose. I had found the address in a phonebook, and it turned out he lived only a little over a kilometer from my own house. "8 Beachwood Lane, 8 Beachwood Lane, remember this," I muttered to myself as I walked up the long hill towards his house. Panting under the hot July sun, I arrived at a cul-de-sac labeled 'Beachwood Lane'. All the houses looked exactly the same, so when I came to number eight, I was very proud of myself.

As I proceeded up the pathway to a slightly dingier house, a feeling of fear overtook me. What if he was not what I expected him to be? I had a mental picture of Dumbledore with a younger face, but when he opened the door I never thought I had seen a more different pair of brothers. Aberforth peered around the door, looked at me oddly and said, "I don't want girl-guide cookies, little missy. I get offers almost every day."

"But Mr. Dumbledore, I'm one of your brothers' students," I told him earnestly. "I need to talk to him."

His eyes looked behind me, and darted like he thought I had a bunch of people spying on him. He pulled me inside and closed the door behind me. The house was very cool and all of the blinds were drawn. I noticed Mr. Dumbledore was wearing his robes, something uncommon out in the Muggle world.

"Have some tea, my dear. You look tired. Who are you?" he asked as he sat me in a chair and summoned up a cup of tea.

"I'm Hermione Granger," I said. He nodded.

"Oh, I've heard of you, all right. My brother talks about how you are abnormally gifted in the brain." I took that as a compliment.

"Anyways, I'm friends, or was friends until yesterday, with Harry Potter. I have an important letter about some very important stuff to give to Dumbledore, but I have no owl. Can you give this letter to him? It's kind of complicated why, but it is really important."

He took it patiently. "Have you ever stopped to think about how important this really is?"

I nodded. I was getting a bit irritated. "It is really important. If you want to know, I'll tell you."

So I told him. When I finished, he gave me a puzzled look. "I see now that your matter is of most desperate importance. I will send this to my brother now. Stay here."

He went into the pantry and came out holding a brown owl with a package tied to its leg. "I'll send this with my gifts. It's his birthday, you know," he told me as he led me to the door.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Dumbledore," I commented as I turned to leave. He smiled as the owl flew off, barely missing my ponytail.

"Come back anytime, Miss Granger." As he closed the door on me and I walked back down the walkway, I realized that he did have an uncanny resemblance to his brother. I proceeded back down the hill, and then I noticed a figure cloaked in black dart out of view.


	2. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

"So, how was your walk, Mi?" my mom asked me at the supper table. I shrugged. "Good." It seemed to be the usual response nowadays. I'm not saying it wasn't good, but it was interesting.

"I went up the hill and back down. Not too hard," I said back. "Did my exam results arrive yet?" I added.

My mom chucked. "No, sweetie, but you did get a letter from a… Ronald Weasley. Do you know him?"

I clasped my head in my hands. "Yes. He's a friend of mine at school." My mom fished in her pockets and gave it to me and started chuckling again, and I saw why. It was covered in postage stamps from top to bottom except for a small square in which he squeezed my address. I blushed and put it in my pocket to open back up in my room. "So where's Dad anyways?" I asked mom rather hastily as I jammed the letter in my pocket.

Mom sighed. "He's at the office late again. One of his patients had a major extraction, and he was half an hour late for the appointment. He should be home any minute now."

While I ate the rest of my bangers and mash, I pondered what it would be like to be a dentist. My parents were perfectly happy, but I was a witch, and I was not able to let that power go to the back of my head as I looked at people's mouths day after day, year after year. I couldn't subject myself to that fate. I was going to be an Auror, whether my parents liked it or not. Before, Moody had said my mind worked the right way. I just had to convince my parents of that. Envisioning my fate of looking in people's mouths for the rest of my life, I cleared the table and clambered up the stairs into my bedroom. I ripped open Ron's letter and it was quite perplexing.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Read this._

I raised an eyebrow and found another piece of paper.

_Dear Ron,_

_How's your summer? I hope it's better than mine. The Dursley's have been even worse lately, if that's possible. Dudley got an Ipod for his birthday but it wasn't the U2 one like he wanted so he threw it at Uncle Vernon. I nearly laughed, but I wouldn't be writing to you now if I had. Anyways, how are Fred and George doing? We should stop by their store sometime when we do our shopping-_

The door closed loudly downstairs. "I'm home," my dad called. "Hi Dad," I called down the stairs, still reading the letter. Then I heard footsteps on the stairway. My room had so much evidence in it that I couldn't afford to leave any lying around. I crammed the letters under my mattress, grabbed a quill and a textbook and 'started' to write a Charms essay. My dad entered just as I flipped to the required page. "Hi dad," I stated vaguely as I pretended to work. "How was your day?"

"Strenuous as usual," he responded. "There was one poor little girl who got her braces stuck in her lip because she got a basketball in the face. Her brother threw it at her." I winced. "Ouch." He nodded. I wished he would go away because I had to read that letter. Fidgeting with my hands, I diverted his attention. "Mum has dinner on the table for you. Hope you don't want it to be cold."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he joked. I turned around and smiled. "No, I just want to focus on this essay. Might as well get it done now."

He came over and rubbed my head. "That's my girl," he muttered. "I'll leave you to that then." He closed the door quietly. I let out my breath and lifted the mattress to the strange letters. I found where I had unexpectedly stopped reading and continued.

We should stop by their store sometime when we go shopping in Diagon Alley. I'm happy Umbridge isn't going to be there this year. If only Snape weren't…

_Am I still invited over to your place? I haven't heard from you in such a long time. Have you heard from Hermione? Hopefully she's well. I think she gets off those potions soon, good thing too. They look disgusting. Over here at the madhouse, it's strange. Like I said before, "Duddykins" has turned into some sort of punk and is a big troublemaker. Not like he wasn't before, but worse._

_Reply back soon,_

_Harry_

Attached was another note from Ron.

Now it's obvious something is up. He can't be all mad at me one letter and then all happy the next. Especially after the Department of Mysteries he would definitely not be that cheery. In the latter one it even says that he hasn't written to me. So one is a fake but we should wait to receive another letter and we can assume which one is Harry. Someone is obviously trying to intercept these but one of these probably got through.

By the way, you're invited over whenever you want to come. End of the summer is better though. Mum is still murderous about Fred and George, but they bought her a good cookbook and now she loves them again.

So think about it and send him the whole story. Last time I tried to send him a letter it didn't seem to work.

Ron

I put the notes down and had a brainwave. The Dursley's lived in Surrey. Their address must show up on some online map. I rushed quietly to the computer in the next room door and went to Map-Quest. It was a slow connection, but I finally searched for Dursley in Surrey. I got one result. Number four, Privet drive. This was it. I copied down the address on an envelope and, seeing as Death Eaters almost certainly wouldn't be monitoring Muggle post, I thought it was a pretty crafty plan. The only issue was that the Dursley's might not give Harry his mail, seeing as they loathe him greatly. But he would find a way to get it. Harry always found a way. I would take a walk tomorrow and put it in the postbox. Now that I had a good connection towards Harry, and a good one towards Ron, I was socially and safety-wise all right, just for now. I snuck back into my room and started to work on my Charms essay, for real this time.

The satisfaction of being done was immense as I triple-checked for grammar errors and spelling mistakes. I love being done, particularly when Harry and Ron are suffering all the way through other things. I like to hold it over their heads. I don't think they like it much still. For a finishing touch, I slammed my Charms book shut and put my quill in the inkwell. Then I slipped on my summer pajamas, my endangered animals t-shirt and my plaid boxer shorts and brushed my teeth, put my hair in a ponytail and went and sat downstairs with my parents in the sitting room. I lounged on a loveseat facing the window with my parents opposite me. We were watching the news. I hoped there weren't any killings or disappearances as I sat between my parents. They seemed intent on a home decorating special. I dozed out the window. There was the next-door neighbors white stucco wall, with a rose trellis running up the side. It seemed to get bushier with every passing moment. As I was daydreaming, a black figure darted right past the trellis, climbed the fence and went into our back garden. I leapt out of my seat in anxiety. Was that real or part of my daydream? I couldn't tell. I kissed my parents good night, still fearfully, and went up to bed. My watch displayed 10:08 as I scrambled into bed and closed my eyes.

There was Harry. He was sitting by the water on a perfectly sunny day with Ron and Hermione. They were all laughing. Then came Dumbledore, and the Weasley's, and Tonks and Lupin and Moody. They were all laughing and then Sirius came. Harry gave him a big hug and things turned back to normal. But then the weather turned dark, and an army of Death Eaters, giants, dementors and finally Voldemort arrived. The happy people were all struck down, one by one, and finally it was Harry versus Voldemort. They dueled, but at last Harry, for some reason, lost the will to fight and lay down his wand. Voldemort shot Avada Kedavra at him and then-

"Hermione! Hermione!" a voice called through the window. I shot up, very clammy. There was a very familiar face at the window, with glasses and a mop of black hair and deep green eyes. "Harry? What the hell are you doing here?" I questioned as I moved towards the window. I opened it. "Why are you here? Don't you live in Surrey?"

Harry nodded. "I wanted to see you in person. Owls these days are too dangerous."

"Yes. Speaking of which, come in. I need to show you something," I told him as I opened the window. He clambered in. "How did you get here?"

"I took the muggle tram, then I walked." His stomach grumbled loudly. "You look hungry. Stay here and I'll get you some food." I snuck down the stairs and grabbed him a banana and some biscuits. Quickly going up the stairs, I looked both ways to make sure my parents weren't going anywhere, and then I closed the door of my room quietly. Harry was sitting on the bed. I handed him the banana and the biscuits. "Thanks," he said, nearly inhaling the banana and he pocketed the biscuits. As he did this I got the letters from the desk and gave them to him.

"Read these letters. Which one did you send?"

He read both of them, squinted, and read through them again. "I didn't write any of these, Hermione. I sent you something through the Muggle post two weeks ago."

"It is dreadfully slow sometimes," I said. "I might get it in a few days." He nodded, and yawned. I looked at the clock. 3:23 am. "You can sleep here if you want," I muttered, "My parents leave for work at 8am so we have until about 3pm to work out a plan. For now you're going to have to sleep under my bed or in my closet." He opened the closet. I pulled out an extra blanket. "Have a nice sleep," I said sarcastically as I closed the door and dove into my own bed. I couldn't sleep until I forgot Harry was in the closet. I thought I heard him sniffling as I drifted off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I woke up and jumped. Harry was standing right over my bed. "You scared me half to death!" I exclaimed as I limbered out of bed. I put on my bathrobe. "It's 9. Now I could lend you a shower and a hairbrush if you wanted…"

"Yes please," he exclaimed. I laughed. I brought him down the hall into the bathroom and gave him a clean towel and a new toothbrush. "I think you'll have to use the same clothes but that's okay, right? My dad is pretty round around the middle."

"That's fine." He closed the door and I went back to my room, pulled on a t-shirt and my jeans and made some breakfast. Harry came down about 20 minutes later, when I had some eggs on his plate and a kipper or two on the go. "I'm not the best chef so don't complain," I lectured him. He wolfed it down. "I was starving," he said. "I didn't have any muggle money left after I bought my train ticket." I stared at him. "That's terrible! Why didn't you bring more money?"

"I stole it from Uncle Vernon. I thought the train fare was only 50 pence," Harry sighed. "But now I'm not hungry so everything's okay." I was amazed at his stupidity and was about to comment for one second, but then I remembered Sirius and stayed quiet. I wanted to ask if there had been any deaths or disappearances lately but that could trigger a nerve about Sirius. Then I'd have a problem. So I stayed quiet as I put the dishes in the washer and asked Harry if he wanted to take a walk with me. "Sure. It couldn't hurt," he said, so we put on our shoes and walked out the driveway. I still had the letter to him in my pocket. "Have you gotten your results yet for OWLs?" I asked as I looked in the postbox outside our house. Nothing. I sighed and continued on. "Nope," he said. Harry followed me on the walk like a lost puppy. It was actually very cute. "So, where do you wanna go?" I asked him. "Um, I dunno, wherever you're going."

"How about up to the park? It's nice up there," I supposed. I hadn't been there for a while and I didn't know the state of the park. "Sure," Harry said.

We trekked and trekked up the hill until we ended up at a deserted playground. Good, I thought as I sat down on a swing. Harry joined me. "I need to tell you something, Harry," I said quietly. I looked over my shoulder, half-expecting to see somebody watching. "Go on then," Harry suggested. "Okay. Two days ago, Snape came to my house and demanded to know where you were. Of course I didn't tell him, since I had no idea. That means that Snape apparently wants to know where you are. He may not be as loyal to Dumbledore as we believe. I tried to contact Dumbledore, but I didn't have an owl so I went over to his brother's house and asked him to send it to him." I took a breath in which Harry let out his, a slightly disappointed look in his eye. On purpose I left the part about Snape attacking me. Harry would worry too much. I continued. "I've been in correspondence with Ron because I couldn't get through to you. We know now that we have people reading our mail."

He breathed in. "Fortunately we never trusted Snape. We never told him anything important. That's good. He probably had people reporting to him though. Like the Slytherins last year." I nodded. "We have to be more careful this year."

I bobbed my head again and we sat in silence for a while, thinking about the words we just said.

"Look at the time! If we want to get you hidden we have to get home soon," I cried. I grabbed Harry by the hand and started to run down the hill to my house. Harry eventually beat me there, but luckily there was no car in the driveway. Pulling out my keys as I reached the front door, unlocking the door and walking into the house I nearly forgot, because the dark figure sat at my kitchen table eating a banana. I screamed as loud as possible, but a glare from Snape took away my voice. "Get out of my house!" I croaked. He stood up and came over to where Harry and I were standing. "Why the hell are you here, Snape? Not as loyal to Dumbledore as he believes?" Harry roared. I realized I was gripping Harry's hand very hard and held it tighter. "So Mr. Potter," Snape murmured icily. He was about to continue when I butted in, "Why don't you shut up? My parents are going to be home soon and they're not going to be happy when they see a prowler like you. If you know what's good for you you'd leave right now."

He moved closer to me so I could feel his oily breath on my face. "Don't talk back to me, Mudblood."

I boldly said, "Don't call me that," back to him. He brought his hand back and slapped me hard on the side of my face. I gave him a dirty look and looked away, still holding the side of my face.

"Potter. I've been waiting to see you. My master will certainly be pleased," Snape said, lingering by Harry and his hand reaching for his wand. I realized he was going to kill Harry. I growled, "Don't fight in my house. Leave now." Harry pulled out his wand. He forgot to bring money but not his wand. Typical, I thought. Then Harry turned around to the hallway and cried, "Accio wand!" My wand came shooting down the stairs and into Harry's hands. He gave it to me and we shoved them in Snape's face. He cackled. "You think two teenagers are going to scare the likes of me? Think again." He held his wand firmly. "Wands aren't really my specialty, but I still know nearly every single curse in the Dark Arts textbook. I'll be courteous and ask you, Potter. What curse would you like to die by?"

At that moment I knew I had to interfere in some way. I pulled my wand back, and jabbed it forwards, shrieking, "Tarantallagrea!" His feet started to tap dance on the floor. "GRANGER!" he roared as he tried to make a lunge for me but he tripped over his feet and lay jerking around on the ground. "Expelliarmus!" Harry called. Snape's wand flew into his hands. Snape sneered, but reached for a blood red metal band on his left arm. I looked closer and it had skull and crossbones with a snake coming out of it. "Harry, he's calling for help!" I cried. He pressed it and it turned black.

We hesitated, but about 10 seconds later more shadowy figures appeared out of thin air. The first one to arrive pulled out his wand and muttered the counter-curse of Snape's dancing. He stopped immediately. "Thank you, Wormtail," Snape said, bowing. Harry clenched his fists, while I raised an eyebrow, utterly lost. Wormtail disappeared with a crack into midair; many others followed. Snape was the last to leave. "That was only the first time you'll see me, Potter. Granger, watch yourself or I might just have to get you out of the way." He left with a crack.

It was strangely quiet. Too quiet, I thought. Then I remembered. "Bloody hell. My parents are coming!" I grabbed Harry and pulled him up the stairs and hid him in the closet. "You're starting to sound like Ron," Harry said. I heard the clicking of keys and the door being unlocked. I gave him the shut-up-or-die look and closed the door. "Hermione? Are you there?" I heard my mom call.

"Hi mum," I shouted down.

"Did you do anything interesting today?"

I smiled to myself, as I said, "No. Not really. Did you?"


End file.
